Still Coasting? Why NZ SMEs Can’t Afford to Be Casual About Hiring

The price of hiring complacency

According to recent Employment Hero research, traditional hiring methods cost SMEs more than $6,000 per vacancy, taking an average of 29 days to fill. With that in mind, it’s easy to see why hiring can feel like a luxury you can’t afford. 

But treating hiring as a last resort comes with a price of its own; not just in dollars, but in missed opportunities.

When hiring takes a back seat, your existing team has to pick up the slack. This approach leads to burnout, turnover, and stop-gap solutions that don’t solve any long-term resourcing issues. 

 According to Employment Hero’s Hiring Snapshot Report:

You may find yourself increasing your spend on temporary and casual support staff, or filling gaps with contractors that drain your cash flow. Perhaps your leadership team starts staying late and you do too. Before long, you’re no longer working on the business but in it.

This is the unfortunate position many business owners find themselves in when hiring is seen as a last resort. The end result is a lack of time, energy and resources to focus on strengthening and growing the business – instead, your time is consumed with simply trying to keep your head above water. 

And that’s just the operational burden. 

The opportunity cost 

Hiring great people is one of the most powerful ways to grow a business. Every strong hire gives you a chance to strengthen your culture, scale, and secure your future.

But when hiring gets rushed (or delayed) it often leads to poor choices, wasted ad and recruiter spend, and culture clashes that set teams back.

Top talent doesn’t hang around. The longer you wait, the harder it gets to secure the candidates who could take your business to the next level. Productivity stalls, admin piles up, and revenue starts to feel the pinch.

It’s a tough reality facing too many Kiwi SMEs, but it’s not inevitable. Because with a few shifts in how you hire, “she’ll be right” doesn’t have to mean putting it off until it’s too late. It can mean you’ve got it sorted.

So, where do you start?

Recognising the signs of hiring complacency

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance hiring may already be on the backburner. But if you need a sense check, take a look at these tell-tale signs of hiring complacency. If you find yourself nodding along, you may already be in the red zone.

Sign 1: No one knows why they should work for you

“I don’t really know how to talk about what makes us a great place to work.”

“We just list the job requirements – not why someone should want to work here.”

This reflects a missing or underdeveloped Employee Value Proposition (EVP) – the kind of positioning that helps small businesses stand out against the competition. 

Sign 2: The hiring process lives in your head

“I’m the only one who really knows how our hiring works.”

“There’s no clear brief, no scorecards, and decisions get made on gut feel.”

Without a clear, repeatable hiring system, it’s difficult to scale or involve other leaders – and easy to miss out on great people due to inconsistency or delays.

Sign 3: You always hire last-minute

“We only think about hiring when someone quits or we’re underwater.”

“We scramble to write job ads – or reuse old ones just to get it done.”

This suggests there’s a lack of forward planning and structures in place for forecasting and proactively preparing for future hiring needs.

Sign 4: You rely solely on job boards

“We just post the role on a job board and wait.”

“If someone good doesn’t apply in the first week, we assume they’re just not out there.”

This approach overlooks passive candidates – people who aren’t actively job-hunting but are open to the right offer – and misses the opportunity to tap into networks and referrals.

Sign 5: Candidate experience is an afterthought

“I’ll get back to the candidates when I have time.”

“We don’t have a set interview process – it just depends on the day.”

“I’m not sure if we ever give feedback to people who miss out.”

A poor candidate experience makes it harder to win top talent and damages your reputation with future applicants.

Sound familiar? Here’s how to snap out of it. 

If those statements hit a nerve, you’re not alone. But you are likely missing out on opportunities, and keeping your business stuck. 

The good news is, you don’t need a huge budget or internal HR team to turn it around. In the next section, we’ll show you how to flip these signs of complacency into a competitive hiring strategy that works for lean Kiwi businesses.

1. Clarify what makes your business a great place to work

You don’t need big salaries to stand out – just a clear, compelling story. Define your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) by capturing the things that truly make your business a great place to work – and share them in your job ads, on your website, and in interviews. When candidates understand who you are and what you stand for, they’re far more likely to say yes. 

2. Define what ‘great’ looks like in your team

Before you write another job ad or interview another candidate, ask, what exactly does a top performer look like for you?

Write down your answer and use it to shape your recruitment decisions. It helps you stay focused and hire with confidence – no matter how many applications come in.

3. Go beyond job boards to access top talent faster and cheaper

Top talent won’t wait, and you need to get in front of them before anyone else does. But just relying on traditional job boards isn’t going to give you the competitive advantage you need; it’s thinking outside the box that will get you there. To find them:

• Ask for referrals from your current team or trusted contacts
• Reconnect with strong candidates from past roles
• Share your EVP on social media, in industry forums, or at local events

If that sounds overwhelming you can always leverage our AI powered hiring tool and get automatically matched with top talent. 

By being visible in the right places and proactive in your outreach, you can connect with talent before your competitors do, often before they even hit the job market.

4. Nail the candidate experience

Top candidates are assessing you just as much as you’re assessing them. To stand out:

• Communicate clearly and consistently – an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is the best place to start
• Offer flexible interview times
• Show off your team and culture (even in small ways)
• Give feedback to every candidate – even if you won’t be bringing them onboard

A thoughtful experience builds trust, strengthens your brand, and keeps the door open for future talent – even if someone isn’t a match today.

5. Build a repeatable, scalable hiring process

Hiring shouldn’t fall apart when you get busy. Create a system that works for your whole team:

• Write clear role briefs and use consistent interview scorecards
• Set up simple approval steps and offer templates
• Align with your leadership team on what “great” looks like in a hire

This gives you speed and structure – so you can act quickly when the right person comes along, without compromising on quality.

Did you know? Our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) makes scaling your hiring process easy. That means no more messy papertrails, just simple, efficient hiring.

From “She’ll Be Right” to “Sorted”: A Smarter Way to Hire with Employment Hero

For small businesses, hiring can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else. Sorting through irrelevant applications. Chasing down resumes. Trying to coordinate interviews across packed calendars. 

But when the right person finally comes along, you need to be ready. The best candidates won’t wait, and drawn-out processes can mean missing out altogether.

That’s why it pays to have an All-in-One Employment Operating System that does the heavy lifting – not just once, but every time.

With our All-in-One Employment Operating System, you can:

• Attract better candidates. Get your role in front of the right people – even if they’re not actively looking – with smart tools that go beyond traditional job boards.
• Cut down on manual work. Automate job ads, track applicants in one place, and use built-in tools to shortlist efficiently.
• Keep things moving. With structured scorecards and a clear hiring workflow, your team can make confident decisions, fast.
• Set new hires up for success. Digital contracts and tailored onboarding workflows help new team members hit the ground running – and feel like part of the team from day one.

It’s not about adding more steps, it’s about simplifying the right ones so you can make better hires, faster.

Whether you’re hiring your first employee or growing your team, Employment Hero’s all-in-one Employment Operating System helps you focus on what matters: finding great people and getting them through the door.

Ready to see for yourself? Book a demo

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Whether you’re hiring your first employee or scaling fast, Employment Hero helps you simplify the right steps – and feel confident while doing it.